Brexit – the issue has been decided

The Callaghan government fell on 28 March 1979 because it lost a motion of no confidence by one single vote (310-311), as a result of which the Prime Minister quite correctly advised HMQ to dissolve Parliament. That was a 0.16% margin of votes cast.

Had the same number of MPs (621) voted in the 2016 EU Referendum and the split been 48%/52% the government would have lost (or won) by a margin of 25 votes. Many issues have been determined by smaller margins in the House of Commons – here are a few just since the last General Election:

“My policy is to hold a renegotiation and then a referendum. That is what we promised in the manifesto and then to abide by what the British public say.” PM David Cameron, 19 January 2016. “This is a decision that lasts for life. We make this decision and it is probably going to be the only time in our generation when we make this decision” – PM David Cameron, 23 Feb 2016.

It is time for “those who know better” to decide whether they believe in democracy at all.